I am now a happily married Carrie Weston. The day of the wedding went well, from the weather, to my hair, to the ceremony. Of course one thing had to go wrong, and it was a doozy. We had an agreement with Keith Platte to conduct our cermeony-- he had done our pre-marital counseling and was our pastor back at the River. However, at about 1:30 I got a call from Holly, his wife. She informed me that Keith, their two kids and several other family members had all gotten horrible cases of the stomach flu during Thanksgiving weekend and was unable to et out of bed. AHHHH!! I knew that something had to go wrong, but I am so thankful to Holly for her thoughtfulness in providing a possible solution when she told me this. She told me that Nate Bull, another pastor associated with our church, had already said that he would perform the ceremony if we wanted him too. Jim thinks that Nate is really cool, so he was happy for him to perform the ceremony, although he was sad that Keith couldn't do it and Nate was even able to make the ceremony his own on just a few hours notice.

We then had a wonderful reception in the coffee house area of our church-- all that was needed for about 30 people-- and people were able to eat while we got our pictures taken. Melissa and Paul haven't got our photos to us yet, but they may be in the mailbox at New Boston and we don't know it yet from here in Florida. I will post more photos once we get them and once we get internet at our apartment. Melissa was so cute while taking photos of me. She nearly teared up at the thought of her "little sister" getting married. She also had this same reaction at my shower when I mentioned that I needed a veil.

Since then...

We have kept working on our apartment, but there is a long way to go until we will be settled. We are in Florida until Friday and then it is back to cold cold cold MN. It is currently 10 degrees in the Twin Cities. Now that I have mentioned that, I think I will put on my suit and go out and lay in the sun for a few hours.

Later!

I just wanted to say a quick and large "Thank You" to everyobne who has been so supportive of us and worked so hard to make our wedding ceremony a success. My parents have been endlessly supportive and went above and beyond to insure that this ceremony had so many things that I never would have thought-- a toast with sparkling juice and champagne flutes for Jim and I, a beautiful bouquet for me and flowers for the stage, centerpieces, catered food from Q-Doba, a gorgeous dress that people are shocked that I found at Deb, delicious cakes for dessert and still an agreement that there will be anpther wedding to celebrate with friends and family from out of town. That wedding will not be grand either, but rather a party to celebrate our new lives together.

I also wanted to thank everyone who came. So many people made the effort to get out there for the ceremony and people mingled who we never would have dreamed of interacting.

People from my small group helped my Uncle Rod clean up the tables and chairs. Stacie not only came and let us in a locked up, but helped clean up and set up the stage and centerpieces on the table. Katie played beautiful music beforehand and as I walked in to meet my husband and as we walked out. Nate Bull briallintly not only filled in for us, but wore a suit (including a tie) and made it his own.


THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU to everyone!!

Jim got back yesterday from a week in New Jersey for work, so we are hurredly trying to pack up for our trip out to MN on Monday. Tomorrow we will be loading the truck with most of our posessions and Monday getting on the road at 6 or so.

We will be back late Wednesday and then spend a semi-peaceful Thanksgiving before our ceremony on the 24th. We will make our way back to MN and then fly to Florida on the 27th. When I learned that Jim's work would need him to fly to Florida and I would supposedly be left alone during the first week of our marriage in a starnge city with the only company a huge load of boxes, I was not pleased. However, when Jim's company learned that he was getting married just days before they footed the bill for him to have a private room so that I could fly along and have a semi-honeymoon/change my name and billing address online marathon.

As you can guess we are exhausted, but we are also so amazed and blessed with the way God has brought everything together thus far. It will be a pleasure to see the many ways He will move during the coming months and years.

Since I have last posted many important decisions have been reached, and many have come with a great sense of relief.

We have aquired an apartment-- a third floor right downtown and only 11 minues from Jim's work.

Wedding #1 plans have been mostly finalized-- Keith will do the service, it will be at the River on Lake Street and Q Doba wil be served afterwards.

So many changes are taking place for both Jim and I. Perhaps the most important is that we are getting married on November 24 in a small family ceremony. Later we will have a larger friends wedding ceremony, but we want to be man and wife sooner so that we can make the move to Minneapolis together for Jim's new job!

He will no longer be merchandising tools but working in sales to stores of K'Nex and Lincoln Logs as well as Huffy Bikes and other things. I need to find a job out there, but prospects are much better than Michigan.

we are insanely busy, but more info. will come here about our weddings and our life in the frigid state of Minnesota.